I think it's cute for the nearest & dearest. I did a mini reveal to my mom, grandmother & sister over brunch...I told them I would be showing up with my nails painted either pink or blue...and I showed up in Opera gloves in August! It was a fun moment. But overblown Pinterest style parties seem a bit much. I mean, bringing pink or blue cupcakes to work is cute, but making it into a huge spectacle is a bit much. I mean, my extended friends and family were already devoting a weekend day to my shower, a post- baby visit, ect...

August 6th, 2013, 10:51 PM

lonestar

When my fiancé and I have children I think I will probably either do a gender reveal party where everyone finds out because 1) I love parties and throwing them (I used to work part time as a wedding planner) and 2) We have plenty of family and friends around that would want to celebrate any and every milestone with us, or do a gender reveal photoshoot with just DH and I because my sister is a photographer and how fantastic would it be to show your future children how excited you were when you found that out about them... Plus we take photos for almost every occasion.

I don't see gender reveal parties and baby showers as an either/or sort of thing. For one most baby showers are thrown for you by someone else and are typically women only affairs, plus where I live baby showers are almost a given as they are more a celebration of the baby and parents. Yes a lot of people do give gifts, but by no means does everyone register for the creme dela creme of baby gear. Meanwhile, gender reveal parties, at least to me, are more of a large party.

August 7th, 2013, 12:53 AM

namergirl3

I think it's sort of a cute idea but it also seems a bit boring/overdone to me..but if someone wants to do it, cool. My sister is planning one around Thanksgiving, and they are doing the typical thing: doctor will write down gender, my sister will take it to the bakery, they will make the cake with the inside pink or blue, sis picks it up and...yeah. I'm curious to know what the baby will be but I'm not excited about the party thing..especially the cake..that seems a bit overdone.

I doubt I would ever have one.. I already have some ideas on announcing my future baby's gender :) (nothing to do with parties lol)

August 7th, 2013, 09:43 AM

ilovenames89

I also saw balloons used and pinata's but you could always think of other ways of doing it also besides cake.

August 8th, 2013, 02:59 PM

birdies

My cousin had one where only the grandparents and godparents were invited. They all found out at the same time. She cut a plain white cake, and on the tray it said "It's a Girl". The next day was Easter, so they filled some plastic eggs with pink M&Ms to tell the rest of the family. Anyone that wasn't family found out through Facebook photos of the eggs.

I would want to do something kind of similar. I have never heard of a gender reveal party where gifts were expected. It was more of a show up and eat sort of gig.

August 8th, 2013, 05:05 PM

ameliawilliams

Meh, i feel like an old grouch on this topic, but i see it all over pinterest and it just feels so attention-grabbing and over-the-top to me. Especially the special gender-reveal photoshoots. Really, you're paying a bakery and a photographer and buying all new clothes and having your hair professionally styled in order to find out the sex of your baby?

My sister had a gender reveal get-together a week or two ago, just for immediate family, and made cake pops with little signs saying "did you guess right? Take a bite!" and it was cute and all, but seemed like a hassle. She went to all the trouble to make pink cake pops and cover them in chocolate and blue and pink sprinkles and she was tired and feeling sick and her two girls were driving her crazy, and then she had to try and schedule it at a time when my family (we're in the middle of planning a wedding and three of us are in the middle of home construction/renovation projects) were all available to come over at the same time and she was stressed and we were running late, and I dunno. It was fun, but it just seems like it would've been easier on her to just tell us. But at the same time, it was like there was a big pressure on her to do something cute! and creative! and ~*~Pinterest-worthy~*~ for the occasion.

(Full disclosure, I think Pinterest causes a lot of problems, in that moms suddenly don't feel like they're doing enough, because they don't make 7-tier ombre pastel cakes and hire a professional photographer for their daughter's first birthday party or because they don't craft their son's snack into a picture of his favorite cartoon character before he eats it. Suddenly a regular old birthday party or snack time or whatever isn't enough. Everything has to be *~*Pinterest*~* style.)

I'd personally prefer to not find out the sex until i have the baby, and then invite in the grandparents and introduce them to my kid. And then they can go tell the rest of the family because I don't like being the center of attention and my parents love to brag about their grandbabies, so we both win.

August 9th, 2013, 07:58 AM

novaberry

I'm undecided whether my fiance and I will find out the gender ourselves beforehand if we ever have children. To be honest, even if we knew the gender, I wouldn't have a gender-reveal party. Part of it's cultural (we don't have baby showers here, so gender reveal parties seem equally alien), but also I just don't see the point. If you want to reveal the gender, just tell people. Having a party seems way over the top for what is basically a two second announcement.